mussey



a sheets-sheet 1. T. MUSSEY.

Dumping-Wagon.

No; Patented Nov. 1, 1845.

l W v 3 Sheets-Sheet 3. T. M-USSEY.

r Dumping-Wagon.

N06 4,250, Patented Nov. 1,1845.

THOMAS MUSSEY, OF NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT.

MODE OE OPERATING CART BODIES:

Specification of Letters Patent No. 4,250, dated November 1, 1 845.

To all whom it may concern v Be it known that I, THOMAS MUssEv, of

New London, inthe county of New London and State of Connecticut, haveinvented certain improvements in the common cart to be used 1ncartmgcoahgravel, dirt, and any other material requiring ahead and tailboard, which may be styled a laborsaving.

cart, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, andexact description,

of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had-tothe annexed drawings, making. a part of this specification, in whichFigure l is a perspective View of the cart, as it stands whether loadedor not; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the front andside as in the actof discharging or dumping the load, and exhibiting the position of thetail board suspended by the levers which control it; Fig, 3 is aperspectiveview of the side and back of the cart with its tail boardthrown up, for the purpose of loading.

It is well known tocarters and carmen, that a horse will draw up-hill agreater load when a part of it rests on his back, than when he hasnothing but his own weight to give him foot hold. But when there isgreat weight on the forepartof the cart, it requires correspondingstrength in the carter to tip up the load.

To obviate 'this difficulty, multiplied power is used on the principleof thewindlass, which is effected in this manner. A bar of iron at,about an inch indiameter is fitted, so as to have its bearings attachedto the thills or shafts in front of the cart body, one end of thebarprojecting from the shaft, on the near side, so as to receive aspurwheel 6 about 6 or. 8 inches in diameter. On the same bar, at alittle distance from each of the shafts, are secured two smallsnailsorfixed pulleys c, c, of cast iron about 2 inches diameter, with holescast in them, of the size of the bar a, and with flanges on the rims soas to admit straps f, f, of strong harness leather between them of twoor more inches wide; one end of each of these straps is sewed to a pinor bolt which passes through the flanges, the other ends pass up overpulleys or rollers d, cl, pendant to a cross piece of wood 6, (whichcross piece is supported by iron studs well braced, and lies close tothe cross piece A at the top of the head-boards,) the straps then passdown from the pulleys under-the fore cross sill B and thence to the axleC where they are madefast. A smallpinion g about'3 inches diameterhaving cogs to match those of. the spur wheel 7) 'on the Windlass arbora, is made towork in a plate attached-tothe side of the thill, thusfbringlng the pinion g in contact 1 with the spur wheel Z) so as to turnit around. To

the arbor of the pinion is fixed acrank 72 by which the power of tippingthe cart bodyis increased by the strapsand windlass at the rate of 20to 1. or more ifnecessary.

Carts may be made without these fixtures having all theadvantages of theself worle mg tail boards, or these: may beso attached to the cart byscrews that they can be removed and the cart used without them.

Onegreat superiority in the use of the windlass consists in the powerthus gained of adapting the cart to hilly. roads. In descending a hillit becomes easier forthe horse to carry the load when thrown as far aspossible back :ofthe axle, which. can be accomplished simply by the useof either a iratchet wheel, or a ratchet 2', made to play into the spurwheel?) whereby the front of the cart body canbe raised to any desirableheight, 'bymeansof the straps f, f, passing under the front sill B ofthe same, as before described, and by theuse of. sprung or bent thills,the cart can in like manner be let down in front, thus assisting thehorse in ascending any elevation.

The tail board D is secured to the cart body by two balance levers (Fig.2) E, E, to which it is made fast at the top, the bot tonr being securedby two braces 70 leading forward to the middle of the levers, when theyare fastened to the rave of the cart F by bolts, which serve as fulcrumsto support and move the tail-board up and down.

To theforwardends of the levers iron loops are fastened to receive checkstraps m, m,

which connect thelevers with the ends of the cross piece H, under thethills near the forward end of the cart (Fig. 2) so that when the bodyis tipped the hind end drops from the tail-board leaving it suspended bythe levers which givesthe load a free. passage to the ground. Thesestraps should be made of good strong harness leather with a buckle onone end so that they may be lengthened or shortened at pleasure in themanner of stirrup leathers.

It will be observed that the straps on the model hang loose allowing thecart to tip ing manner.

several inches before there is any opening at the tail-board, the objectbeing to throw part of the weight back of the axle before the loadbegins to discharge, so that the center of gravity having passed thatpoint the load tips much easier going all together. The same effect maybe produced by ropes or chains instead of leather and the same fortipping the cart by the Windlass. Also rods or hoop iron may be used toconnect the levers with the thills, but to give the load liberty to tipbefore the cart opens behind there must be slots or joints in them topermit them to vary their lengths, so that the object above stated maybe attained. An-

other mode is to connect the thills and levers by simple rods or otherfastenings as long only as will reach from one to the other in this casehowever the cart will begin to open behind as it begins to tip.

To raise and tip by the crank and windlass, studs may be used hangingdown by the thills and wound up by the Windlass but they look clumsy andare rather in the Way.

To facilitate loading the tail-board may be thrown up and so secured inthe follow- About half way between the axle and the front ends of theside sills K K are holes made in the sills through which spring bolts nn pass projecting out about of an inch, being within the sweep of theends of the balance levers, these bolts are riveted into springs P, P,which are screwed to the inside of the sills so that they force thebolts out. The ends of the bolts which come in contact with the leversas the tailboard rises are sloped so as to admit the levers to pass bypushing them in, and

when they have passed, the springs force them out, so that they catchand hold the lever till by another process they are drawn in again andthis is performed as follows. A wire or cord 1, is stretched across theunderside of the cart connecting the springs and bolts and to thisanother cord s, is fastened near the middle and passes over the axle tothe hind end of the cart, where it goes through a hole in the hind crosssill L, or through astaplethe cord having a knot tied in it to preventits slipping out. The following is the plan for keeping the tailboardfirmly down when the cart is travel ing over rough roads. A hole is madein the hind cross sill L, near the center through which a rod t about ofan inch diameter passes steeled at the end to guard it from wearing asit works against a spring catch w. This rod extends forward till itabuts against an iron U, projecting up from the axle: at the hind endnear the cross sill L a notch is made in the rod to fit it to a slit inthe end of a spring '0 screwed on the sill L. This spring .forces therod forward until the end is drawn within the hole, when the forward endof the body of the cart is raised a few inches, but when the cart bodyis brought down forward to .its proper place, the rod comes in contactwith the iron U on the axle, which forces it back so that it becomes acatch to hold down the tail-board.

A spring to with a catch attached is screwed to the tail-board and thisseizes the rod and fastens the tail board but it may be easily raised bypulling a knob on the spring so as to relieve the catch. The cart bodyis fastened down forward by a spring catch X bolted to the fore crosssill B, and a stud y projecting from the'cross bar N of the thills.

About 18' inches from the axle on the thills and at the same distance onthe side sills K, K, check joints 2,2, are secured to their inner sidesby bolts; they lie folded when the fore end of the body is down, butwhen it is raised for dumping, they open as shown in Fig. 2, and checkit at the proper angle for discharging. R R are secured to the axle C byscrew bolts a, a, with eyes back of the axle, into which the snipe billsof the cart body constructed as usual are inserted, they should be madepretty stout and long penetrating well into the ends of the thills; whenso made and fitted they constitute the strongest, simplest and cheapestfastenings for that part of the cart that can be adopted.

All the apparatus here used may be applied equally as well to ox as tohorse carts and the tail-board and levers being secured by bolts may beremoved at pleasure.

Having thus fully described the construction and operation of my laborsaving cart, what I claim therein asnew and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-

1. The combination of the shaft a, crank it, pinion g, spur wheel 6,ratchet z, pulleys 0, 0, and (Z, d, straps f, f, and elevated crosspiece 6, arranged and operating substantially in the manner and for thepurpose herein set forth.

2. I also claim the combination of the tail board D, balance levers E,E, straps m, m, and cross piece H; arranged and operating substantiallyin the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

3. I also claim the combination of the bolt 6, spring 1;, spring catch10, upon the tail board, and metallic plate u, upon the axle, arrangedand operating substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein setforth.

THOMAS MUSSEY. Witnesses Z. G. RoBBINs, HENRY SIZER.

The thills

